Mr. Obama then recited the lines from Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. He followed it by offering “All Men are Created Equal,” from the Declaration of Independence. And he closed with “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

All those hallowed words were followed up by actions. Dr. King went from the National Mall to “Bloody Sunday” at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma , Alabama in 1965. Many of the Founding Fathers who signed that Declaration in 1776 would actually risk “their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.” Franklin D. Roosevelt, when he spoke on Inauguration Day, March 4, 1933 , of our only fear being fear itself had just come away from an assassination attempt. Riding next to him in his open car was Mayor Cermak, who was killed. As our president for twelve years, Mr. Roosevelt would sail to summit conferences and fly to meetings of the Big Three, all the while risking being killed by the Nazis.

What actions have preceded President Obama’s assuring words to Israel on Iran ? This president came to office pledging to the Iranian mullahs “an open hand, not a clenched fist.” They spat on his open hand. When the people of Iran rose up following obviously rigged elections in June, 2009, Mr. Obama declined to offer any support for the Green Revolution in the streets. Instead, green turned to red—the red bloodstains on the cobblestones as the mullahs’ hired guns shot down pro-democracy demonstrators.

Mr. Obama has allowed Ahmadinejad, Iran ’s putative head of state, to come to America to address the UN General Assembly and to deliver his rants against his neighbor, Israel. Ahmadinejad was further allowed to disport himself at Columbia University . All the while, Ahmadinejad had two American hikers locked up on trumped up charges.